Top 15 George Orwell Quotes

British writer and journalist (1903–1950)

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George Orwell (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950) was the pen name of British novelist, essayist, and journalist Eric Arthur Blair, whose work is characterised by lucid prose, awareness of social injustice, opposition to totalitarianism, and strong support of democratic socialism.

Bio from: Wikiquote (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Portrait adapted from: Wikimedia Commons, Cassowary Colorizations (CC BY)

Pen Names: John Freeman

Birth Name: Eric Arthur Blair

Alternative Names: Orwell • Eric Blair • P. S. Burton

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Engraved portrait of George Orwell, facing left

Perhaps one did not want to be loved so much as to be understood.

Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.

In a time of deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary act.

All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.

War is peace.
Freedom is slavery.
Ignorance is strength.

Every generation imagines itself to be more intelligent than the one that went before it, and wiser than the one that comes after it.

The best books... are those that tell you what you know already.

The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.

If you want to keep a secret, you must also hide it from yourself.

The most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history.

But if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought.

If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face — for ever.

We shall meet in the place where there is no darkness.

It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.

Doublethink means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them.